Etymology: < (i) Anglo-Norman pas, pass, paas, pase, pace and Old French, Middle French pas (French pas ) speed, rate (late 10th cent. in en pas que at the same time as), footprint (1160–74), track, difficult passage (1160–74; 13th cent. in figurative use), step (c1180), the slowest gait of a horse (c1196), place on a way which affords strategic advantage (c1250), passage, entrance (c1330), step of a flight of stairs (1340), approximate distance covered by a step (1380), strait (1530), defile (1559), and its etymon (ii) classical Latin passus step, pace, distance covered in a step, a double pace, as unit of measurement of distance, in post-classical Latin also way through mountains (frequently c1190–1450 in British sources), passage or section of a text (13th cent.; 1271, 1543 in British sources), step of a flight of stairs (1252 in a British source) < pass- , past participial stem of pandere to stretch, extend (see pandation n.) + -tus , suffix forming verbal nouns. Compare pass n.¹Early examples of this word are difficult to distinguish from pass n.¹ Spellings which suggest a long vowel are placed at this entry, while those which suggest a short vowel are given at pass n.¹, although some examples of the form pas are ambiguous in this respect and hence may rather belong at pass n.¹ In sense 8 frequently in singular form with plural sense. It is unclear whether the following early examples (in sense 10) are to be interpreted as Anglo-Norman or Middle English (compare also pass n.¹ 2a):1349 Accts. Exchequer King's Remembrancer 471/3 Pro j petra vocata paas empta pro dicta domo continenti iiij or pedes..xij d.1364 in L. F. Salzman Building in Eng. (1952) 118 [Stones called] paces. Attested earlier as an element in place names and surnames, usually combined with first elements of Anglo-Norman origin, although compare Geoffr. Modipas (1299).

Etymology: Probably chiefly a variant of pasch n. with regular loss of final /k/ in northern English and Scots (compare e.g. forms and discussion at mask n.¹), although some examples may represent later reflexes of Old English pase Passover (see phase n.¹). Some instances in the modern period (especially in U.S. use) may also reflect Dutch pasen, (in compounds) paas- Easter (see pasch n.). Compare phase n.¹, pasch n.With sense 2 compare extended use of post-classical Latin pascha for other great church festivals (e.g. Pascha Epiphaniae Epiphany, Pascha Pentecostes Pentecost, both 12th cent.); also Old French pasque de Noël, Spanish Pascua de Natividad (17th cent.; also as Pascua in this sense), Italian Pasqua di ceppo.

Etymology: Probably originally a specific sense development of pace n.¹

Etymology: Acronym < the initial letters of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act.

Etymology: Originally a variant of pass v., now distinguished in form (after pace n.¹) in senses below.

Etymology: < classical Latin pāce, ablative of pāx peace (see peace n.), as used both in phrases with possessive pronoun, e.g. pāce tuā by your leave, and in phrases with genitive of the person whose leave or favour is sought. Compare earlier pace tanti viri adv., pace tanti viri dixerim phr.